Music Directors

Osamu Matsumoto
Director, Conductor, Composition, Arrangement

Osamu Matsumoto is a trombone player, arranger, conductor, and composer who is involved in live performances, concerts, and recording activities with numerous renowned big bands and jazz musicians. With the Yosuke Yamashita Special Big Band, a representative big band in Japan, he has arranged major classical works through an innovative approach with impressive results. These include “Rhapsody in Blue”, “Bolero”, “Pictures at an Exhibition”, and “From the New World”, all of which were highly appraised just recently. Apart from his performing activities, he also teaches jazz trombone and jazz arrangement at a music college as a part of his motivated efforts to guide the young. He serves as the Music Director in the AYJO project. His outstanding solo albums include “Wafu” and “Aoki Sora ni Mimodaete.

Mayuko Katakura
Director, Piano

Born in Sendai, both of her parents are professional jazz musicians, and so she was raised listening to jazz from a young age. Mayuko Katakura studied jazz piano at Senzoku Gauen Junior College, Berklee College of Music, and The Julliard School. She is currently an active jazz musician in Japan and overseas, and is anticipated to be one of the most successful jazz pianists in Japan. In 2006, she won the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Pianist Competition, and her first leader album “Inspiration” was awarded the New Star Award in the 43rd Swing Journal Jazz Record Award, among many other awards that she has received. She serves as the piano and rhythm section instructor for the AYJO.

Malaysian Representative

Muhammad Abdul Karim
Percussion

Abdul Karim showed his innate musical talents soon after he was born, banging on pots and pans. Although he had learnt music through self-study, he enrolled in the National Arts, Culture and Heritage Academy (ASWARA) in 2009 and underwent formal music education. This was when he came to know of Latin percussion. He began performing in 2005, and started his professional career in 2010, performing actively in Malaysia as well as in the US, Korea, Singapore, and Thailand. He is also currently engaged in recording and music arrangement activities.

Musicians

Takumi Nakayama (Japan)
Alto Saxophone

Born in Shizuoka in 1992, Nakayama started out on the piano at age of 5, and learned the saxophone and jazz when he was 12. He graduated from Kunitachi College of Music at the top of his class. He has studied the saxophone under Yoshiyuki Nakayama and Atsushi Ikeda, amongst others. To date, he has performed with the likes of Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Yosuke Yamashita. As the lead alto saxophone in the High Society Orchestra at Waseda University, he received the top prize at the Yamano Big Band Jazz Contest for two consecutive years and received the top soloist prize. He is now an active performer mainly in his own quartet, as well as a composer/arranger, and is constantly on a quest for music that can strike a deep chord in the hearts of people.

Yuri Kishimoto (Japan)
Alto Saxophone

Born in Kyoto in 1992, Kishimoto began learning the saxophone when she joined the school brass band during her first year at junior high school. During high school, she was assigned the 2nd Seat in the Kentucky Camberland Youth University Band while studying English in the US and has gone on tour within the state of Kentucky. In 2011, she entered the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, and turned her focus to jazz. She has studied under Bob Zung, and was an active member of the Get Jazz Orchestra (as Concert Mistress). She graduated in 2015. She is currently the leader of the combo band Gon Quintet as well as an active performer in musicals and jazz clubs in Tokyo.

Geraldo Bhaskara Putra Sibbald (Indonesia)
Tenor Saxophone

Born in Jakarta, Geraldo started out on the classical saxophone at the age of 6. He stepped into the professional music scene when he was 11, and began performing easy-listening music under the stage name Bass G. Together with his sister, he formed a saxophone duo called G&B. He counts Michael Brecker as one of his major influences, and became deeply devoted to jazz after learning about the musician. He has performed in many jazz festivals in Indonesia, and performed on the same stage with Indonesian jazz legends Benny and Barry Likumahuwa. In 2014, he received his solo debut at the Java Jazz Festival.

Misaki Motofuji (Japan)
Baritone Saxophone

Born in 1992, Motofuji began playing the saxophone at the age of 12, and has pursued wind instrumental music diligently ever since. In 2015, she graduated from the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. To date, she has studied classical saxophone under Shogo Sakaemura, chamber music under Yoshiyuki Hattori, and jazz saxophone under Tatsuya Sato. While in university, she performed actively as a member of various ensembles including saxophone orchestras, quartets and big bands. She is currently involved in performing activities across all genres of music including jazz, pop, electronic and classical music, and is also engaged in a wide variety of musical expression in the area of contemporary music, which incorporates other forms of performing arts.

Kai Takaara (Japan)
Trumpet

Born in Fukushima, Takaara started playing the trumpet at 11 years old. He then joined the local wind band and orchestra. When he was 17, he began to study under Eisuke Yamamoto at Kunitachi College of Music. He enrolled in the same school and learned about playing in ensembles, wind bands, and orchestras. While focusing on classical music in his studies, he also joined a big band ensemble (New Tide Jazz Orchestra), came in touch with various genres of music as the lead trumpet player, and performed with the likes of Sadao Watanabe Yosuke Yamashita. Upon graduation, he studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for one year under Mark J. Inouye. He is currently engaged in a wide range of activities, playing for musicals, recordings, big bands, brass ensembles, orchestras, and wind bands.

Ravee Treesaksesakoon (Thailand)
Trumpet

Born in Bangkok in 1992, Ravee chose French horn as a member of the school band during his first year of junior high school, the same time that he started out on the trumpet. In 2009, he began to specialise in the trumpet and jazz after performing at the Thailand International Jazz Conference, and majored in jazz at the College of Music, Mahidol University. He has performed with various big bands and ensembles as the lead trumpeter. In 2011, he performed in a big band in Germany, which he visited as an exchange student, and participated in many musical activities including the Frankfurt Youth Symphony Orchestra. Apart from his studies, he keeps bust performing at events and participating in jazz camps.

Terdrid Rueangroj (Thailand)
Trumpet

Terdrid began learning music at the age of 11. Although he first learnt the flute and the melodeon, he began learning the trumpet in junior high school, and became a member of Rajsima Wittayalai School. Thereafter, he studied at the Royal Thai Air Force School of Music. He is currently enrolled in the Jazz Studies Department at Rangsit University. In addition to studying under Vanich Protavanich and Denny Euprasert, he also plays in the RTAF Symphony Orchestra, Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, and the RSU Jazz Orchestra. To date, he has participated in various music camps in Thailand and abroad, and received an award at the Thailand Trumpet Competition in 2012.

Rafael Rubio (Philippines)
Trumpet

Rafael is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music, University of Santo Tomas. He studied the trumpet under Roger Llado and Xavierernest Celestial. He began learning to play the trumpet at the age of 10, and his first teacher was his father who is a band conductor. When he was 16, he joined the Philippine Youth Symphonic Band where his talent blossomed. He is also a member of various orchestras including the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra and Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, and performed at a band festival in Taiwan in 2014. In the same year, he won first place in the trumpet division of the National Music Competition for Young Artists in the Philippines.

Shigetaka Ikemoto (Japan)
Trombone

Born in 1996, Ikemoto began playing jazz trombone around his first year of junior high school. He was twice awarded the soloist prize at the Japan Student Jazz Festival during his junior and senior year of high school. Currently enrolled in Keio University, he serves as the lead trombone player in the Keio Light Music Society. During his senior year of high school, he studied under Hiroshi Munekiyo, and is currently a student of Eijiro Nakagawa. He puts much hard work into his daily practice, in keeping with his dream of becoming a trombone player capable of playing solos.

Melvin Perido (Philippines)
Trombone

Born in Cavite in the Philippines, Melvin enrolled in the University of Philippines College of Music in 2009 after graduating from Tanza National Comprehensive High School. There, he majors in trombone, and is polishing his skills under the tutelage of Professor Rodney Ambat and Cornelio Ramos. He is also a member of the UP ROTC Symphonic Band, UP Jazz Ensemble, and Metro Manila Concert Orchestra, and is involved in a diverse range of activities that include performing in live concerts outside of school.

Mariko Maeda (Japan)
Trombone

Maeda started out on the piano when she was 3 years old, and began playing the trombone at the age of 10. While studying at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, she began learning under Osamu Matsumoto, Tomonao Hara, and Yukiyoshi Arimasa. In 2012, she began to engage in musical activities with a big band called Mariko Hirose and Purple Haze, which purses a new sound that departs from typical concepts of music, and also joined the Alpaca Jazz Orchestra, which focuses on the concept of concerts that are easy to understand and enjoyable for audiences from children to adults. She is active in helping to expand the breadth of these activities. Currently, she is a member of Stompers, led by Seiichi Nakamura, and is active as a leader in her own musical unit.

Jirapat Praeprasert (Thailand)
Euphonium

Jirapat began learning music as a baritone player in a marching band in 2000. In 2007, he began learning to play the euphonium at Kasetsart University, and has performed on many occasions with the university’s band, KU Wind. He has studied under Kanrit Sawaddee-sook, and graduated from the university in 2011. He is an active member in several orchestras, and currently pursues a Master’s degree at Mahidol University. He is also an active Thai Yamaha artist. In 2014, he had his first recital with his brass band for the Yamaha Artist Concert Series. He also teaches the euphonium at Kasetsart University and Silpakorn University.

Masahiro Yoshioka (Japan)
Tuba

Born in 1991, Yoshioka began learning the tuba during his first year in junior high school. He graduated from Musashino Academia Musicae in 2014. To date, he has studied tuba under Momo Sato and Kiyoshi Sato, and chamber music under Yutaka Tobe and Roger Bobo. While at university, his musical activities focused on classical music, including playing in orchestras and wind bands, and he was selected to join the Musashino Academia Musicae Orchestra and Wind Orchestra. Currently, he is continuing with his performing activities as a freelance tuba player mainly as an extra, and also teaches tuba and brass instruments.

Masato Yoshikawa (Japan)
Flute

Born in Kanagawa, Yoshikawa is a graduate of the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. He has studied flute under Nami Goto, chamber music under Kimio Yamane, Japanese music under Kohei Nishikawa, and jazz theory under Yoshihiko Katori. He began composing and arranging music through self-study as a high school student, and is also involved in publishing activities today. In university, he was selected to participate in the big band Get Jazz Orchestra. He is currently a live performer and recording artist, but also participates in regional activities. He is an arranger in the unit Ensemble Signal, as well as a flute player with Syuto Nakamura Usual Name as well as Mariko Hirose and Purple Haze. In 2014, he began conducting flute and ocarina lessons at Yamaha.

Rit Xu Kai Xiang (Singapore)
Flute

Kai Xiang began learning music at the age of 9. He won the US National Flute Association’s Jazz Competition three times, a feat that is a first for an Asian. He has entranced audiences across the States, and performed together with renowned jazz flutists including Hubert Laws. He is a graduate of the Classical Flute Department at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore. This autumn, he will be graduating from the Jazz Performance Department of the Manhattan School of Music. Based in Singapore, he is an active jazz flutist, composer, educator, and band leader.

Prapanpong Maneewong (Thailand)
Clarinet

Prapanpong began playing the flute and khaen (a traditional instrument from Thailand) when he was 10 in the marching band at school. He began learning to play the clarinet in junior high school. He majored in music education at the Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University, where he studied classical music and jazz. He is currently enrolled in the Master’s program at the Faculty of Music, Silpakorn University. He is an active member in many orchestras, including the Thai Youth Orchestra, and also performs in a jazz band. He placed first at the Thailand International Band Competition, and was commended at the Thailand Clarinet Competition. Apart from his performing activities, he is also involved in a wide range of activities as a lecturer, conductor, as well as composer and arranger.

Peter Ocampo (Philippines)
Clarinet

Born in Bulacan in the Philippines, Peter is a member of the wind orchestra at the University of Santo Tomas while studying there and is a clarinet soloist in Banda 31, which is based in his hometown. When he was 16, he performed the solo parts in Dreaming of the Masters Clarinet Jazz Piece by Allan Gilliland, and Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin in a concert at the University of Santo Tomas. In 2014, he also participated as a saxophone player in a concert by the Bavarian Youth Jazz Orchestra held at his alma mater.

Yukiko Kitazume (Japan)
Clarinet

Born in Kanagawa, Kitazume is a graduate of the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. She has studied the clarinet and chamber music under Hitoshi Hoshino, and Japanese music under Kenji Yamaguchi. She received the encouragement prize in the woodwind category for university students at the 24th Junior Classical Music Competition in Japan. While a student, she also taught young players in junior high school bands in Yokosuka City. She has performed at welfare facilities for the elderly, and in solo performances as well as salon concerts. In 2012, she formed the chamber music trio, Ensemble SIGNAL, which comprises flute, clarinet, and piano.

Muhammad Nur Ikhsan (Indonesia)
Clarinet

Ikhsan majored in classical music while studying at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts. He is currently learning to play the clarinet and saxophone, and is an active member of the university’s clarinet quartet. He began studying music in 2011, and performs both classical music and jazz. He is also active in various orchestras in Indonesia and participates in jazz events in Yogyakarta, expanding the scope of his musical activities.

Dino Yulio Wijaya (Indonesia)
Clarinet

Born in 1996 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Dino learned to play the clarinet from his father at the age of 10 with his brothers. In 2011, he studied at a senior high school for music under the tutelage of Gampur Irianto. He currently majors in Western music studies at Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta (ISI Yogyakarta). Besides being an active member of the national youth orchestra, Gita Bahana Nusantara, he is also an active member in various orchestras including the Indonesia Youth Symphony Orchestra and Granadilla Clarinet Quartet.

Pawin Limkangvanmongkol (Thailand)
Piano

Pawin Limkangvanmongkol began his music education at the age of 4 at music school, and began taking private piano lessons at the same time. After entering the College of Music at Mahidol University in 2008, he was selected to become a member of the Mahidol Jazz and Big Band, a representative band of the university. He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree at the same College of Music. He also participates in music camps held in Thailand, Europe, the US, and other countries. Apart from studying, he frequently appears in the Bangkok jazz scene, as well as in numerous festivals including the Hua Hin Jazz Festival. He also has a strong track record of winning awards at the Thailand Jazz Competition.

Nohara Okamoto (Japan)
Electric Bass

Born in Chiba in 1993, Okamoto began learning to play the bass guitar seriously during her senior year in high school. In 2015, she graduated from the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. In 2012, while she was still a student at the university, she performed at the Taipei International Jazz Festival. In 2014, she formed her own band, Gemini Ludens, comprising piano, bass guitar, and vocals. She eagerly faces the challenge of performing music from a wide range of genres, from original compositions to pop and jazz standards.

Fumihiro Ibuki (Japan)
Drums

Born in Hokkaido in 1990, Ibuki has been involved in the live sessions, recordings and tours of various artistes such as Ayano Uema, Vanilla Beans, Blue Peppers, Jun Kajiwara, Akira Wada, Koki Ito, and Alex Sipiagin. He is also an active member of the contemporary rock band O.P.P.A.I, the funk/blues band The Megane Brothers, and Romania Oarikui, among others. He won the grand prize in the general drums category of the Strongest Player Contest 2011 organized by Rittor Music.

Nagisa Uchida (Japan)
Vibraphone

Born in Saitama in 1989, Uchida is a graduate of the Comprehensive Music Department, Conservatoire Diploma, SHOBI College of Music. She picked up music first with the electone at the age of 3. She took up percussion at the age of 13, and played keyboards and percussion in the marching band. She performs in volunteer concerts at welfare facilities and nursing homes. In 2014, she reached the nationals of the Japan Classical Music Competition as a solo percussionist. She is also active as a singer-songwriter. Alongside her live performing activities, she is also currently busy with recording activities for the release of her works.

Nagisa Uchida (Japan)
Vibraphone

Born in Saitama in 1989, Uchida is a graduate of the Comprehensive Music Department, Conservatoire Diploma, SHOBI College of Music. She picked up music first with the electone at the age of 3. She took up percussion at the age of 13, and played keyboards and percussion in the marching band. She performs in volunteer concerts at welfare facilities and nursing homes. In 2014, she reached the nationals of the Japan Classical Music Competition as a solo percussionist. She is also active as a singer-songwriter. Alongside her live performing activities, she is also currently busy with recording activities for the release of her works.

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